Colombo’s CFA obligations list remains long

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 November 2002, 15:04 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military occupies 216 temples and churches and at least 45 schools in Jaffna. In scores of other schools and places of worship in the northern peninsula the Sri Lankan armed forces have vacated only buildings but are camped in or around the same locations. The Sri Lankan government agreed to pull out its armed forces from schools and places of worship in the island’s Northeastern province when it signed a ceasefire agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers in February 2002.

TamilNet Survey Amparai District Division 1 Batticaloa District Division 1 Division 2 Division 3 Division 4 Public thoroughfare Jaffna District Valikamam East Division Valikamam West Division Valikamam Division Vadamaradchi Division Islands Division Thenmaradchi High Security Zone Schools within the High Security Zone in Valikamam North Temples within High Security Zone in Valikamam North Mannar District Mannar Division Nanattan Division Madhu Division Adampan Division Trincomalee District Division 1 Division 2 Division 3 Vavuniya District Venkalachcheddikkulam Division Vavuniya Division

Tamilnet conducted a survey in the Northeastern province recently to assess the degree to which the CFA has been convincingly implemented by Colombo.

The CFA stipulates a 30-day deadline for SL armed forces pullout from temples, churched and mosques and at most 160 days to vacate schools in the northeast. Resettling Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) is a core concern for the Tamil side in the current peace deliberations in Thailand. The question of the Tamil IDP’s remains a problem because their homes, villages and towns are inside high security zones.

The Tamilnet survey reveals the magnitude of the problem that the parties have to address in order to create and consolidate an environment in the northeast, which would be conducive to advancing the peace process towards substantive stages.